What’s the Best Mainstream Adventure Sports Movie?

Can you buy Reese Witherspoon hiking the PCT? Or schlepping a monster backpack? Or shooting up smack? Well, ready or not, here she comes: The big screen adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s best seller, Wild, is hitting theaters in a few short weeks, and once again the outdoor core will be waiting to see if Hollywood got it right.

Its track record is not good. Mainstream movies have a reputation for wildly distorting the true nature of outdoor sports, of co-opting authenticity in support of dubious narratives, of defying you to suspend your disbelief when almost no thinking person could.

And yet, how many of these films have become part of the canon of outdoor cinema, ironically or not? So many, that’s how many. Whether boosted by irony or tempered by our judgment softening over time, good outdoor movies seem to become great, and campy movies become legend.

Let’s put them head to head and see who takes the gold. Pick up to three. Note that we’re only considering non-documentary feature films.

[polldaddy poll=”8434543″]

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WIN SMITH SUNGLASSES JUST BY VOTING


This week, one poll participant will receive a pair of Smith Optics Serpico sunglasses. We’ll pick the winner via random number generator (and announce it here) – all you have to do to enter is vote and leave a comment so we have your email to contact you. Must have a U.S. or Canadian address. Contest ends Sunday, November 16, at midnight PST.

Congratulations to Ken Coppedge, who wins the Smith this week!

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